Millennials worry about unemployment - survey

Johannesburg – Millennials are more loyal to their employers than they were a year ago and prefer to have job security, a survey by Deloitte reveals.

The Deloitte Millennials survey 2017 shows that uncertainty in the world have made millennials more concerned and anxious about what these global events mean for their personal prospects.

The survey was conducted across 300 countries and the views of 8 000 millennials were collected. Millennials are individuals born after 1982, those surveyed had to have a college or university degree, are employed full-time and work predominantly in large, private-sector organisations.

Given the uncertain economic environment, stability is more “appealing” to millennials as opposed to them working as freelancers, explained the report.

This contrasts with findings in last year’s survey which indicated that one in four millennials would quit their job to join a new organisation or do something different, showing an absence of loyalty. About 66% of millennials expected to leave their jobs by 2020.

This year’s survey indicates nearly two-thirds of millennials prefer full-time employment. This is six in 10 millennials in emerging economies and seven in 10 in mature economies, the report explained.

“The reasons most often given for preferring a permanent role are that it offers ‘job security’ and ‘a fixed income’,” the report explained.

“Unemployment continues to worry many millennials, with a quarter concerned,” said the report.

Locally however, South African millennials are more open to freelance opportunities than the global average, said Tumelo Seakatso, talent strategies leader in Deloitte SA’s Human Capital practice. Statistics show that 43% of surveyed South Africans are open to freelancing than 31% of millennials globally.

Similarly to the rest of the world, South Africans were wary of leaving their jobs in the next two years. Last year the figure was at 54% and has come down to 43%. This shows that South African millennials would like to hold onto their jobs, said Seakatso.

This is mainly driven by economic conditions, unemployment ranks second highest as an area of concern impacting confidence for South African millennials. Crime ranks first. Globally, terrorism is a major concern, followed by unemployment and economic conditions, explained Seakatso.

Further, as automation is becoming a feature in the work place, in some ways it encourages creative thinking and provides opportunities for individuals to develop skills. However, other millennials view automation to be a threat to their jobs, said the report. About 40% of millennials see automation as a threat to their jobs and 44% believe there will be less demand for their skills.

Contrarily, only 15% of “superconnected” millennials which are those more willing to engage with new technology, believe automation will reduce job availability. And 64% think there will be more jobs available, said the report.

The trends are similar for South Aafrika, said Seakatso.

The survey also found that millennials in developed countries feel pessimistic, while those in emerging markets are more optimistic.

Millennials in emerging markets generally expect to be both materially and emotionally better off than their parents, said the report. South Africans are generally more optimistic. Millenialls feel their financial well being and emotional wellbeing is far better than that of their parents, said Seakatso.